Trusts

Revocability

The settlor created an inter vivos trust, conveyed
property to that trust by deed, and later removed one of the trust
beneficiaries.After the settlor’s death when the
remaining beneficiaries sought to partition the property, the removed
beneficiary claimed that the trust was made irrevocable when the settlor
deeded property to the trust.The trial court
rejected this claim and the appellate court affirmed.

The court explained that under Texas law an inter
vivos trust is presumed revocable unless the trust expressly provides
otherwise.Trust Code § 112.051.Although the removed beneficiary agreed with this rule of law, he
claimed that the settlor’s deed of the property to the trust made the
trust irrevocable because it used the term “forever” in the granting
language.The court held that this type of standard
form language in a warranty deed did not reflect an intent on the
settlor’s part to transform a revocable trust into an irrevocable one.

Moral: Standard language used in a deed to
transfer property to a trust does not have the effect of making the
trust irrevocable.